I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Doom Eternal. Except any bit with the marauders. Screw those guys. But yeah, it’s fun. Beat the game, I’ve been going back through it finding secrets and collectibles. Only problem is I started getting bored of it.

So I checked out Battle Mode. Only recently have I gotten more comfortable with multiplayer games, which is weird because when I was younger I played the hell out of Quake 3 Arena. I used to do Splatoon 2 videos but then the Splatfests stopped. I digress, I didn’t pay any attention to the promo stuff regarding Doom Eternal’s multiplayer, so I had no idea what was in store for me.

It’s kinda cool. Kinda. But there’s only one game type in Battle Mode. One Slayer vs Two Demons. That’s it. You have some decent tutorials on how to play as the demons but you can’t really get a feel for them until you’ve played a few matches.

Problem is… I’m having a hard time finding matches. You can select to play as a Demon or Slayer if you want, sure. But more often than not, if I try to pick what I want to play as, the game will search for a match for about 15 seconds before giving up. Like, really? Can’t just keep searching? I was only able to start when I selected Quickmatch, which randomizes being a Demon or the Slayer.

I prefer to be a support type of character and while that is available, the small intimacy of a 3 person match is a far cry from 64 person Battlefield where I get to be a medic and just heal people who are better at the game than me. So, meh, could be better I guess.

But where’s the rest?

That’s it for Doom? There’s no co-op horde mode? Really? That seems like the most obvious idea, you and other slayers face down an constant onslaught of demons that get harder and harder, until you’re left fighting three marauders, three doom hunters, and a baron of hell with only 3 shotgun shells left, and not enough zombies to refill your ammo, so you all panic and die. Sounds like a blast right? Well, where is it?

Horde mode is not an original game mode by any means. In a world where even Forza Horizon gets its own Battle Royale mode (I’m not even joking), you figure that a horde mode would be the first go-to. Oh god they’re not doing Doom Battle Royale are they? I hope not. Maybe I’m being too picky, it’s just really weird that there’s only one game mode and nothing else. Do they have a roadmap? One second. I stopped to look and see if there’s planned DLC. Looks like there is, but it appears to be single player content.

Welp, that’s fine by me I guess. I’d still like a horde mode though, can we please get it? Do you want a horde mode? Have you had a hard time with matchmaking? Come @ me in the comments.

Dear Gamers,

I’ve been struggling with writing the Lucky Gamer Recap for the past few weeks and have finally come to the understanding of why. I haven’t been feeling lucky as a gamer. What makes things worst is I’ve been feeling unlucky because I’m a PlayStation fanboy. And Playstation has been messing up. Sony allows CrossPlay is a thing I can’t say.

What exactly do I mean? Well, allow me to explain. The recent and long-awaited introduction of cross-platform play has finally arrived. That sentence should be cause for rejoicing and yet it causes great pain. Someone high on the totem pole at the house of Playstation decided that cross-platform play is not amazing. Whomever this demon posing as a person is refuses to understand the terrible impact this has on the gaming community.

“They didn’t like someone buying something on an Xbox and it being used on a Playstation. simple as that. dumb reason, but there it is.” – John Smedley

I mean, I understand the why’s. First, there’s the money issue. If someone buys cool Fortnite stuff on Xbox they can just play in the PlayStation ecosystem with no money being seen by Sony. You could imagine why they wouldn’t really enjoy that, but with more PS4s out in the world than Xboxes, I think it’s safe to say fear not Sony, our money is yours. Second, well there really isn’t a second reason.

There are tons of rumored second reasons. Some being fanboy abuse like saying the PS4 infrastructure isn’t as powerful as the Xbox’s and Sony doesn’t want to be exposed. Or, my personal favorite, playing with the Xbox Elite will convert PS4 players looking for better competition over. Personally, I think these are both hilarious possibilities (improbable does not make impossible) but weight offer the relief we desire.

So on behalf of all PlayStation fans, I want to apologize for Sony’s incompetent behavior. I have made a few phone calls and should be securing a meeting with John in the coming weeks. We will fix the inappropriate behavior and make up for this abuse, someway somehow. I’ve let them know that we will not stand for this.

Hopefully, this letter of apology will stand as an excellent example of what a true fanboy looks like. I will, of course, stand by my team no matter the final decision but remember we are for the gamers. HardModeGamers Unite!

God of War, Yakuza 6 and some other less important stuff.

It’s been a long time coming but the worst part of the pre-E3 drought is here. Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. It was a great release week for PS4 so it can’t be the worst. The worst is when there are no good releases and news is as dry as last week. Either way this week sucked pretty bad too. But as always I did my best to bring some glorious, or at least interesting, news for my fellow Lucky Gamers:

1. To play alone or not to play alone?

I would never have thought that the day would come where I would be questioning how much longer single player games have left. Sure on one hand we have the incredible single player adventures like God of War or Yakuza. But on the other, we have the recent rumor that this years Call of Duty may arrive with no single player campaign. That is crazy. Absolutely unexpected. The rumor is this years Call of Duty ran out of development time to perfect the single player campaign and it was scrapped. Of course, this could all be hype train boarding because all parties involved have declined to comment. If Call of Duty goes campaign free, it may set the example that single player is dead. At least for triple A titles. Is that something we are ready for? My answer: No.

2. The Anthem Story.

Mass Effect: Andromeda’s story was so poorly received that EA and Bioware haven’t been able to shake the nightmares. Now on the rumors of an industry shaking decision, Bioware has go on record to say that they are focusing heavily on the story for the upcoming Anthem. Anthem was shown off last year and immediately touted as a Destiny clone. In a world dominated by Battle Royale it may have become apparent that a Destiny clone might not be enough. Anthem was set to launch this year but was recently delayed to 2019. Let’s just hope they don’t butcher the story before launch because “there wasn’t enough time”.

3. Battle Royale!?

Let’s sum up the interesting Battle Royale news category real briefly this week. First off congratulations to Epic for Fortnite mobile bringing in over $25 million in its first month. That’s a lot of money. Like a lot of money. So much so that it brings us to point two. Dice is currently prototyping a Battle Royale mode for Battlefield V. Reports say that they are testing mechanics and gameplay styles in engine but it most likely will not be ready for launch. Rumors also claim Treyarch is doing the same for Black Ops 4. And while the big guys are playing catch up the other little big name on the scene is innovating to compete. PUBG just added a new underground cave system to the map. The cave had various exit ways and an entire underground system of its own.

4. Switch delay Switch Hooray!

Bad news out the way first. Dark Souls Remastered for Switch has been delayed. The Dark Souls amiibo has also been delayed and Bandai Namco did not provide any clear reason. The delay only effects the Switch version with the remaster still releasing for all other platforms on May 25th. Good news, NBA Playgrounds 2 will be launching this summer. Season mode, over 200 players, and a championship online mode are just a few of the new improvements to the game. And random over speculation of possible great news, new Wave Racer incoming. I’m talking about the game series, not the musician. In a brief interview at BAFTA, series producer Takahashi said it may be one of the games they are working on bringing back.

5. One long awaited, one hardly expected.

This console generation has seen the long over due return of traditional horror games. Great experiences like Resident Evil 7 and Outlast have given the genre new life. Canceled projects like Silent Hills have shown us how crazy things can really get. Now Agony, a kickstarter horror game, will be released on May 29th on PS4, Xbox One, and PC will be aiming to further darken your underwear. The other genre this console generation has has a massive impact on is Open World. With damn near every game exploring the idea of open world for better or worse. Still not enough and so we have the announcement of Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass. Not much was shown about the game besides the announcement trailer but I’m sure we’ll see more at E3.

6. It’s never too late for training.

If you’ve ever thought to yourself after playing a game for a whole year, “man this game could really use a training or practice mode”, don’t give up. That’s what I’m guessing happened over at Ubisoft. Some noob kept getting wrecked in For Honor and finally someone was like “Fine Steve! We’ll put a training mode in so you can ‘git good’ and stop crying”. So now a whole year later, For Honor will have a training mode. Dreams do come true. And if that was enough class in a game how about Disgaea 1 making a comeback on Nintendo Switch and PS4. No exact date was given yet but it will be coming sometime this year with collector’s editions available for preorder now.

7. Classic gaming in a possible modern classic?

That was an awful title mechanic. Either way stick with me and see where it goes. First, Kingdom Hearts 3 finally gave us a little more information about itself. The game will feature mini games inspired by classic LCD gaming from days of old. Days of old being a quick reference to 1980’s games and old Mickey Mouse animated shorts. Supposedly still slated to release this year it won’t be much longer before you can have Sora reliving our gaming past on his current gaming tech. I really don’t expect this game to still be coming out this year but boy would that be a pleasant surprise.

Fallout DLC Except It’s Real Life and it’s Pterrifying

Oh snap. It was quite a dull week in the gaming world. For the most part we were all kind of paying more attention to Call of Duty: Trump In Office DLC that opens with bombs over Syria. Not a political site, just letting ya know that’s also a thing that happened. So with the rumored announcement of Fallout: Real Word Crazy around the corner, let us come together as much as we can in honor of our favorite things. This week’s reason to feel like a lucky gamer (you know outside of being alive):

1. A new battle royale enters the battle royale.

And immediately receives backlash over pay to win DLC. The game, from Lawbreakers developer Boss Key Productions (yea, I know), is Radical Heights. And Radical Heights is set in a colorful 80’s inspired world and something about a game show element set in the year 2023. And Radical Heights sounds radical! I don’t know what else to say. Everything about this game sounds exciting as lion brawls. Oh, and did I mention that they immediately responded to the back lashes and made changes to satisfy the gamers? Word. Radical. The downside, of course there’s one, it’s only available on Steam.

2. Expand the universe, more Walking Dead.

Another Walking Dead game coming our way in Fall 2018! That’s right more amazing story telling with zombie blood shed everywhere. Even more incredible, the game looks amazing so far. The new “Maya” Trailer, which is obviously all CGI, makes me feel like they are putting some real intensity into the story being told. There hasn’t been much information about the game so far but it was confirmed to be a first person shooter. By the looks of it so far, this tiny glimpse of greatness, gives me hope that we won’t get another awful game like that first attempt starring the Dixon brothers.

3. Elder Abuse?

Probably the most shocking and outlandish news from the week comes from our sister industry, comic book land. Apparently someone felt that one of the most heralded creators of all time, Mr. Stan Lee, has been being abused by his daughter. He has since confirmed this is not happening and even threatened to go as far as suing the people who reported this nonsense. All reports show that Stan Lee is very upset by the allegations and I’m glad. It would suck to know that something like this is happening to a man I hold so much respect and admiration for. Continue being incredible and ignore the nonsense.

4. Check those warranties.

Like I said, it was a slow week in the games industry so I’m doing a little cross-over work. The FTC recently indicated that void warranty language on video game consoles is illegal. What does that mean? Well in my opinion it applies more to third party repairmen but check it. Threatening to void the console warranty for opening it or tampering with it for repair purposes is a no no. That is, unless they provide all the parts for you to do your own repairs for free. At least in its current phrasing. The companies who received the letters remain anonymous but they only have 30 days to make adjustments before legal action gets involved. Shouts to the FTC for having our backs with this one.

5. More games for Switch.

It feels like very week I’m compiling a list of games coming to the Nintendo Switch. Ports, remasters, new IP all being announced on the regular. This week is no different. First up we have Football Manager Touch. The football is for soccer. The game originally made for tablets and getting a complete remade system of their own. Next up we have more Sonic classics join gn the Switch gaming roster. Well it’s actually a whole slew of SEGA Genesis and Master System games which are primarily known for Sonic. Alongside that we also have the official release window for Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 and 2. It’s coming to all consoles but I figured i’d throw it in this piece here. The games will be available sometime in July.

6. Shenmue.

That header should be enough to garner a few clicks. Shenmue 1 and 2 are being re-released on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. And they are coming at some point in 2018. The interesting part is the choice of words. This is a Re-release. So although they are talking about upscaling graphics and adjusting controls, the game is not being remastered. I personally can’t wait to play these games on newer consoles. I loved the Shenmue story and truly believe it paved the way for what is now the incredible Yakuza series. Final words: yes please.

7. Rumors and Relocations?

The first thing on the menu is a rumor that a new Bioshock game is in development at 2K. Yea that one had to come out swinging. Now as I said just a rumor swirling but this is the time of year where rumors really matter. And most of the time turn out true. But also don’t. Who knows. On the other hand we have a medieval style RPG being set in the Middle East. Knights of Light is a brand new RPG still in development that is promising to bring us to 7th century Iraq. The development team, Rumbling Games, is aiming for a 60 hour adventure for your PS4, Xbox One, or PC. Nothing more on that year, but stay tuned we may have some exclusives up our sleeves.

Final note: Our hearts go out to all the people of Syria who are feeling the direct impacts of the crazy world we live.

Developer Drama, Switch Releases, and TGS2017

Wowzers! First and foremost I want to make a formal complaint. I was extremely annoyed by both Marvel VS Capcom and Destiny 2 needing 3 hour updates when I first tried to play. Not cool. Now on to the news, whether good or bad, that everyone wants to hear. However, a brief prayer goes out to our gaming friends over in Puerto Rico. That hurricane hit them hard, from all of us at HMG we wish you a speedy recovery and hope you can join us on the gaming field again soon. On to the shenanigans.

1. Playerunknown’s Battleground developer Bluehole lashes out?

In an interesting turn of events, Fortnite Battle Royale, a game which was already making medium sized headlines on its own, is making huge headlines. Primarily due to upsetting the cry baby Chang Han Kim for sharing so many similarities with the game his team created. Now it is very important to note that Fortnite Battle Royale, which is a new free to play mode, is very much like PUBG in the same way that Need For Speed and Midnight Club are very much the same. With Bluehole already threatening legal action it will be very interesting to see how this plays out over the next few weeks. Regardless, Fortnite Battle Royale launches on September 26th across all platforms, except Switch. The game even accidentally featured cross platform play between PS4, Xbox One, & PC! So, I guess when you take that into consideration I would be crying a tad bit as well.

2. It’s the return of the Duke!

Let’s put this out in the open for anyone who isn’t wildly aware: I am a Playstation fanboy. No shame at all. One of the primary reason I stuck with Playstation at the beginning of the fan war was because I preferred the DualShock controller to the Xbox behemoth known as the Duke controller. This is why this piece of news is extremely baffling for me. Microsoft approved the remake of the classic Duke controller for the Xbox One. My immediate though, as a Playstation Fan, was who wants this? Why in the world would anyone be interested in going back to that awful remote? Then I did my investigative journalism, (i.e. googled what is going on) and found that the remake will replace the center logo with an OLED screen. That explains everything. [Edit: People with BIG HANDS also like the controller. Also, as an Xbox early adopter, I get a bit nostalgic for that monstrosity and this looks amazing.]

3. Jump Gaming

Jump, a service from Jump Gaming was announced back in July and positioned itself as the “Netflix of Indie Games”. The service currently offers 60 games with a huge focus on growing its library. The jump service is now available and offers a free 14 day trial for anyone interested in trying out the service. Unfortunately us console gamers will once again have to kick back and play our games the old way as Jump is currently only available on Windows, Mac, or Linux. If you fall in love with the service in the first 14 days, keeping your membership will cost you $9.99. I personally am really falling in love with this $10 a month buffet style entertainment services.

4. The Witness puzzles us on the go.

The unique puzzle game from Jonathan Blow which originally launched on PS4 and PC in 2016, will now be available on iOS. You’ll get to hurt your brain trying to figure out these intricate puzzles on your iPhone (perhaps a brand new iPhone 8) or iPad wherever you go for only $9.99. No word on whether the game will be coming to the elite Android OS yet, but I can’t imagine any reason the equally powerful competition wouldn’t get it. As far as the game goes, it is a critically acclaimed masterpiece of mystery and confusion. Good luck!

5. Inside is going outside.

The really interesting side scrolling adventure is going to be available on a Nintendo Switch near you. That’s not all though, Inside will also be arriving on iOS as well. Pricing and details revolving the release have yet to be announced and once again no mention of an Android version in the works at this time. Inside, similar to The Witness, was a critically acclaimed game that truly helps the player appreciate games as art. Keep an eye out on the newly updated iOS App store for more information on the iOS release. Everyone knows that nobody actually owns a Nintendo Switch to play any of these games on.

6. The Playstation strikes back!

Tokyo Games Show happened and Sony showed up to the party with a mini arsenal. And no I’m not talking about the angry version of Green Arrow’s sidekick. Monster Hunter World was given a release date of January 25th, 2018 along with a Japan exclusive PS4 Pro. Dragon’s Crown, one of the most popular PS Vita games is officially coming to PS4. Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is getting a remaster with… wait for it… VR support. Good Lord! the only news better than that was the announcement of a brand new IP called Left Alive (not Left for Dead or I Am Alive, that’s something else) set in the Front Mission/Armored Core universe. Not much was revealed but the trailer looks amazing. There was a crap ton of announcements made regarding the Playstation future this week but Grandmaster Chet already did a really nice recap so you can check it all out here. Kidding no he didn’t, that’s my job and I didn’t either.

7. Sad, sad news for the Vampyr kingdom.

One of the most exciting games on my holiday radar was just pushed into the spring of 2018. Part of me is upset, part of me is relieved. Dontnod Entertainment stated that some technical issued held up the development and they don’t believe meeting the deadline was worth risking the quality of the game. I support this stance entirely for every game. I support it moreso with Vampyr as we haven’t had a good (or really any) vampire game in a really long time. So they can’t screw this up. I moreso moreso support this because now Chet will be able to rip out less hair trying to figure out how to divide games for review. Yay tech issues!